Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (73602)	4/28/2011 7:37:58 AM
From: carranza2	7 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217820

You remind me of the typical Australian who, if told housing was a problem, would start WWIII. You cannot - but probably will- argue with the fact that any economic system cannot grow on a compound basis forever without meeting resource limitations. Continuous growth in the face of a growing population ultimately results in the inability to continue growth so long as resources are limited. I think Prof. Bartlett has it exactly right: the greatest failing of the human race is its inability to understand the exponential function. Resources are becoming more difficult to produce. The easy extraction of essentially everything has ended, particularly of hydrocarbons. Oh, sure, there is plenty of oil in the world, but it is in oilsands, shale and miles below the ocean. You undoubtedly read the Saudi lies about being able to replace Libya's production but did not do so due to 'internal consumption.' The statistical analysis Grantham had his quants do was very interesting. The recent rising trend in prices of commodities was shown not to be a temporary bubble. That virtually all of them were shown not to be in a bubble says it all. The paradigm has changed, and Chinese and Indian demand are contributing greatly to this trend. Cheap commodities and easily obtainable energy fueled the very real prosperity of the hydrocarbon era. The implications are there for all to see. We will have rising commodity prices because the competition for them will be fierce. Resources are going to be allocated meagerly, living standards are likely to trend down, we may even see resource wars [some would tell you that the conflicts in the ME are all about resources.] We are not doing the necessary to use resources wisely or to plan for shortages. I think this is obvious. Because there is absolutely nothing I can do to influence the apparent mistakes we are making except discuss them, I look at these things strictly from an investment standpoint. In that regard, the way to protect yourself and your family from the problems that the limitations on resources will undoubtedly create is to buy farmland and commodities (including gold because the price of everything is going to go higher and we will need to protect purchasing power) then sit and wait. I think the country that will succeed in an enormous way in this new paradigm will be Canada. It has huge resources, a small population, a system that efficiently protects property rights, and politicians who are not fiscally insane nor prone to engage in crazy-expensive wars.